Largest volcano on Earth found, scientists say

Tungurahua's "lahars" or mud flows threatened the El Salado Baths in the town of Banos in 2005, says volcanologist Rebecca Williams.

Pantelleria is home to an ancient caldera lake. Calderas are created when a volcano's mouth collapses during a major eruption. Pantelleria is Sicily's largest offshore island and lies closer to Africa than Italy.

Europe's highest active volcano, Mount Etna, spews lava in January 2012. The volcano is located in Sicily.

Mount Etna's vent is sometimes topped with snow during the winter.

Lava flows into the ocean from Kilauea, the youngest of the volcanoes on Hawaii's Big Island.

Kilauea means "spewing" or "much spreading" in Hawaiian.

This serene view from Eldfell volcano in Iceland belies the volcano's dramatic history. Eldfell was thought to be extinct before suddenly erupting in 1973, spurring the evacuation of the Icelandic island of Heimaey.

The town of Vestmannaeyjar was saved from Eldfell's lava by using sea-water to stop the flow, but not all structures survived.

An emperor penguin cleans itself on snow-covered sea ice around the base of Mount Erebus in Antarctica. This volcano is not particularly welcoming to humans, but volcanologist Williams would love to visit.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The underwater volcano is called Tamu Massif

It is about the size of New Mexico state

Tamu Massif covers an area of about 120,000 square miles

(CNN) -- Move over, Mauna Loa.

A group of scientists say they've found a volcano bigger than you.

Way bigger.

An underwater volcano dubbed Tamu Massif was found some 1,000 miles east of Japan, says William Sager, a professor at the University of Houston, who led a team of scientists in the discovery.

World's largest volcano discovered

The volcano is about the size of the state of New Mexico and is among the largest in the solar system, Sager says.

Tamu Massif covers an area of about 120,000 square miles. In comparison, the largest active volcano on land, Hawaii's Mauna Loa, is about 2,000 square miles, Sager says.

"Its shape is different from any other sub-marine volcano found on Earth, and it's very possible it can give us some clues about how massive volcanoes can form," Sager says.

Tamu Massif is believed to be about 145 million years old, and became inactive within a few million years after it was formed.

The volcano was partly named in honor of Texas A&M University, where Sager worked for 29 years before moving to the University of Houston. Tamu is the university's abbreviation while massif is the French word for "massive" and a scientific term for a large mountain mass, according to Sager.